Doug Beghtel/The OregonianThe
historic Riverdale Grade School, which is being replaced by a more
modern building this year. Just 2 percent of the school's students came
from low-income families in 2007-08, according to federal statistics
used in a new study. A new report by the non-profit pro-school-choice Fordham Institute
says "more than 1.7 million American children attend what we've dubbed
'private public schools' -- public schools that serve virtually no
poor students."

Of
course, the study's authors are wrong. These are public schools, paid
for by taxpayer funds, that children attend without having to meet
admission requirements or pay tuition.

But in its report, the institute argues that "by exclusively serving well-off children, they
are arguably more private — certainly more exclusive — than many elite
private schools, which... generally offer at least some scholarships to
low-income students."

"Such schools do not happen by accident,"
the report says. "In a country where more than 40 percent of K-12
pupils are poor enough to qualify for a free or reduced-price lunch
from the federal government, it is not exactly random when a school
serves few or none of those kids... Their demographics generally are
products of public policies and community decisions."

The report
says that "some districts hire 'border guards' to ensure that only
those who pay property taxes there are permitted to enter their
schools." And in fact, a family that owns a home in Lake Oswego but
lives in West Linn recently had an unpleasant run-in with Lake Oswego
school officials who enforced the rule that only children who live in
Lake Oswego can go to school there, unless they pay tuition.

Despite
listing the 12 Portland-area schools by name, the report generally
gives high marks to the Portland metro area and to Oregon for having
fewer such schools than the nation as a whole. In Oregon and in metro
Portland, just 1 percent of schools, serving 1 percent of students,
meet the foundation's definition of a "private public school" -- namely
that 4 percent or fewer of its student qualify for federally subsidized
meals.

Nationally, 3 percent of schools enrolling 4 percent of
the nation's students have that few low-income students enrolled.
Connecticut had the most, with 18 percent of its students in "private
public schools."

Among the 25 largest metro areas, Portland was
tied with Tampa and Miami for having the fewest schools with virtually
no poor students; Boston (16 percent) and New York City (13 percent)
had the most "public privates."